Francis Gazette: MSU v Iowa

It's homecoming in East Lansing in every sense. East Lansing High hosts Grand Ledge Friday night and MSU hosts Iowa Saturday at noon. No word on what the East Lansing homeschoolers are doing in the Quiz [Bible] Bowl league this Sunday. However, it stands to reason that if you are always at home...you can't...its hard to have a literal...you know what I mean?

Iowa is coming off a tough loss to a very dangerous, very underrated Northwestern team. I could talk about NU for days, as I think they have maybe the best QB in the B10, a top 3 running back, and a very underrated and dangerous defense. Iowa had a 17-3 halftime lead but gave the game away late. Iowa lost their best running back Greene (one of the better backs in a very, very deep RB field in the big [11] ten) in the 4th Quarter last week and could not run the clock out or move the ball effectively. Greene is back and healthy again this week according to reports and could make Iowa a tough match up for MSU.

However, as good as Greene is, Javon Ringer is better. This can be found at espn.com and is beautiful:

NCAA Leaders

Scoring PTS
1. J. Ringer Mich St 72
2. D. Brown UConn 66
3. J. Dillard Rice 60
4. M. Lewis Ball St 60
5. K. Moreno Georgia 60

Interceptions
INT
1. O. Wiley Mich St 4
2. S. Baker Ball St 4
3. D. Charbonnet Texas Tech 4
4. S. Thompson California 3
5. R. Hamilton Vanderbilt 3

I'm pretty sure MSU has never been the leader in those two categories at one time.

Meanwhile Hoyer is completing 46.5% of his passes. And we are throwing the ball about 40% of the time. During, by far, the softest part of the MSU schedule. Which means he should be somewhere near 70%.

Iowa's defense is giving up points like THIS GUY is giving up soup--at a stingy 10.2 points per game average. Iowa has allowed just over 100 rushing yards per game (look for that to get blown up) and 182 passing per game (mostly due to NU's Bacher throwing for 280+, so, unless they cram the box for Ringer, look for that to be fairly accurate). Interesting is when Iowa has given up points, primarily in the 2nd and 4th quarters.

Two things about Iowa are just amazing. 1. That Ferentz still has a job (currently ranked #6 hot-seat coach nationally by these guys). 2. That they still have enough players to take the field. The character of this Iowa team makes Penn State and Bobby Williams era MSU look like the Ivy League. Let's just hope they keep their pants on long enough to play Saturday. You could best sum the Iowa season up like this: